Superannuation Industry (Supervision) Regulations 1994

A member of a fund is taken to be a lost member at a particular time if:

the member is uncontactable, that is, if and only if:

either:

the fund has never had an address (whether non‑electronic or electronic) for the member; or

the trustee of the fund has made one or more attempts to send written communications to the member at the member’s last known address (or addresses), and the trustee believes, on reasonable grounds, that the member can no longer be contacted at any address known to the fund; and

the member has not contacted the fund (whether by written communication or otherwise) within the last 12 months of the member’s membership of the fund; and

the member has not accessed details about the member’s superannuation interest in the fund from any electronic facility provided by the fund within the last 12 months of the member’s membership of the fund; and

the fund has not received a contribution or rollover in respect of the member within the last 12 months of the member’s membership of the fund; or

the member is an inactive member, that is, if and only if:

he or she has been a member of the fund for longer than 2 years; and

he or she was, at the time he or she joined the fund, a person in respect of whom there was in effect a contribution arrangement of the kind referred to in subsection 16(5) of the Act (which deals with the definition of standard employer‑sponsored member); and

the fund has not received a contribution or rollover in respect of him or her within the last 5 years of his or her membership of the fund; or

the member joined the fund from another fund or an EPSSS as a lost member; or

the member joined the fund from an RSA provider as a lost RSA holder;

within the last 2 years of the member’s membership, the trustee of the fund has verified that the member’s address is correct and has no reason to believe that that address is now incorrect; or

the member is permanently excluded from being a lost member.

To avoid doubt, for the purposes of this regulation, a written communication includes a written communication by non‑electronic means or by electronic means.

For the purposes of subregulation (1), and subject to subregulation (3), a member of a fund is permanently excluded from being a lost member if:

the member is an inactive member who has indicated by a positive act (for example, deferring a benefit in the fund) that he or she wishes to continue to be a member of the fund; or

the member has contacted the fund at any time after the time at which he or she joined the fund and indicated that he or she wishes to continue being a member of the fund; or

the member is a member of a self managed superannuation fund.

The trustee of a fund may decide that:

a member, a class of members, or all members of the fund cannot be permanently excluded from becoming lost members; or

a member who is, a class of members who are, or all members of the fund who are permanently excluded from being lost is or are not to continue being permanently excluded from being lost.

If a lost member is transferred to another fund or an EPSSS (the transferee fund), the trustee of the transferring fund must supply certain information about the member to the trustee of the transferee fund (see regulation 7.9.81 of the Corporations Regulations 2001).